McCain Ahead In New York Survey
While Rudy Giuliani is hoping Florida will jump start his national campaign, a Marist/WNBC poll released today reveals he is behind in his home state of New York for the Republican presidential nomination. Arizona Sen. John McCain leads the poll with 34 percent of Republican voters, Giuliani follows with 23 percent, Mitt Romney is close behind with 19 percent and Mike Huckabee rounds out the top four with 15 percent.
McCain’s strongest support comes from upstate New York, where, as the poll notes: “the lion’s share of the Republican vote will come.” Giuliani polled better in New York city and suburbs. But the field is fluid, with most Reublicans not enthusiastic about their current choice.
Democratic voters, on the other hand, are generally enthusiastic about their candidate. Hillary Rodham Clinton led the poll with 48 percent, Barack Obama followed with 32 percent, John Edwards pulled 9 percent, Dennis Kucinich had 3 percent and 7 percent were undecided. Clinton’s support was significantly stronger upstate, and Obama is stronger with younger voters.
The economy and the war in Iraq are the top two issues for all New Yorkers. Security/terrorism rounded out the top three issues for Republicans, while Democrats cited health care as a priority.
The poll was conducted Jan. 15-17, before the South Carolina and Nevada events of the weekend, had a margin of error of 5 percent for the Republican sample and 4 percent for the Democratic one.
New York is part of Super Tuesday – primary day is Feb. 5.